Major League Baseball made a pitch, but Seattle Seafood Spot Ray remains addicted to his web address

The historic neon sign of Ray’s, a seafood restaurant on the waterfront in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. (Metaverse Marketingverse Marketing Photo/Kurt Schlosser) Major League Baseball has come one step closer to owning the desired web addresses for its 30 professional teams. One of the latest holdouts, Twins.com, now redirects to the Minnesota baseball team rather than a website controlled by twin brothers. The recent sale of the Twins estate by Durland and Darvin Miller ends a decades-long saga between MLB and the sibling duo. A 2015 Grantland story documented how the league rushed to secure domain names it was late to register – and why the Miller brothers held on despite the potential for a big payday. Seafood restaurant Ray’s in Seattle is still holding its own and has no plans to give away its prized Rays.com web address to MLB and the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. “We want it because that’s who we are,” Ray (restaurant) chief executive and co-owner Doug Zellers told Metaverse Marketingverse on Tuesday. The homepage of Ray’s seafood restaurant website. (Rays.com screenshot) The waterfront restaurant overlooking Shilshole Bay in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood has occupied the location since the 1940s, when original owner Ray Lichtenberger opened a cafe and eventually erected the iconic red neon sign. Ray’s current iteration as a beloved seafood dining spot turns 50 next year, and Zellers said it’s been at least 10 years since MLB joined. In 2015, the league successfully secured Rangers.com for the Texas Rangers at a cost of $315,000. But another holdout, Giants.com, is owned by the NFL football team and isn’t going anywhere. And neither does Ray’s address. Zellers heard rumors at the time that quite a few of them would be kicked out by MLB in an attempt to chase Rays.com when the baseball team debuted as the Devil Rays in 1998. But ” it was a firm no from our partners,” he said. Grantland’s story seven years ago also cited Monte Cahn, founder of URL registrar Moniker.com, who worked as a middleman for MLB in its quest to secure domains. “After several attempts and conversations with [Ray’s], it was obvious they wanted to keep their name and brand,” Cahn said, as reported by Grantland. “So I suggested TheRays.com and was able to get that for MLB for a fraction of what they would have spent on Rays.com. » The view of the water and the mountains from the Ray’s terrace. (Photo Metaverse Marketingverse Marketing by Ray) Zellers told Metaverse Marketingverse Marketing that beyond the story, the simple URL is good for internet traffic and restaurant reservations. “There’s something magical about having a four-word domain name,” he said. “SEO and metrics are awesome. I think we get a lot of hits on the main landing page because of the simplicity of the domain name. The longtime restaurant may even have its own baseball fever. Seattle’s Mariners find themselves locked in a tight American League Wild Card race with Tampa Bay as the season draws to a close. The M’s are trying to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2001. When asked if he was a Mariners fan, Zellers laughingly replied, “I am.